Recent Posts

About

Matt was born and raised outside Boston, and after his hockey career fizzled at age 13 he decided to become a writer. Now he covers retail and all things shopping for DailyFinance, where he’s constantly finding new ways to help readers save money. He’s as thrifty as you can possibly be while living in New York City, and the only time he’s ever made an impulse purchase was when he bought himself one of those singing fish for $20 a few years ago. He still hasn’t forgiven himself.

There's plenty of free stuff up for grabs this weekend, including Amazon credits, free antivirus software and Redbox movie rentals.

Let's start with Amazon. It sells just about everything these days, so credit on the site is practically as good as cash. And there are two deals on tap this week that can get you a hefty amount of free Amazon credit.

• The first is a deal on the upcoming and much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system. When you preorder the Windows 8 Pro upgrade through Amazon for $69.99, you'll get a $30 Amazon promotional credit. The deal is good on preorders placed through Saturday.

Note: you won't get your credit until 30 days after the software ships -- presumably so you can't return the software within the 30-day return window but keep the credit. Also note that the Amazon credit cannot be put toward Kindle books, MP3s or video rentals. And finally, if you don't mind downloading the new OS right from Microsoft, rather than buying a physical copy, it only costs $40 to upgrade (from Windows 7, Vista or XP) -- which is the effective price after the Amazon credit is applied.

• If a $30 Amazon credit isn't enough for you, how about $400 Amazon credit? The SmartBalanceTransfers.com blog points out that that's exactly what you can get when you sign up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, now that Chase has started allowing customers to redeem their rewards points for Amazon credit. The card in question gives you 40,000 bonus rewards points when you sign up and then spend a minimum of $3,000 with the card in the first three months.

At a redemption rate of $1 of Amazon credit per 100 rewards points, that translates to $400 to spend as you please on merchandise. Of course, this only makes sense if you were planning to spend $3,000 over the next three months anyway. And be aware that the Sapphire card comes with a $95 annual fee after the first year is up.

• Facebook wants you to protect your computer, so it's offering a variety of antivirus programs for free. Freebies on offer include six months of Kaspersky PURE Total Security, Panda Security 2013 and McAfee Internet Security 2013. The only catch? You have to "Like" the Facebook page of whichever antivirus company you choose, which shouldn't be too much skin off your back.

• Most of the time you have to buy something to get a freebie bonus, but Verizon is offering some free movie rentals just to hear them out. Visit this page on Verizon's website, check to see if Verizon FiOS is available in your area and listen to the sales pitch, and Verizon says it will send you codes for six free Redbox rentals -- regardless of whether you actually sign up for FiOS. The codes are good through June 2014. Keep in mind that you'll still have to pay late fees if you don't return the DVD within 24 hours.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell@teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @Brownellorama.

Lets not get amnesia! ...FREE Amazon credit. LOL....get a credit card (for an annual fee)..Just ******* folks in to debt again. The "Jones" went bankrupt everybody, lets not try to keep up with them anymore.

Verizon "freebie deal" is no freebie, no deal, and no contacting Verizon, that's for sure. I clicked on the page above to go to Verizon and check for Fios service in my area, listen to sales pitch, and get six free Red Box DVD rentals. I went to that page and put in my address and zip code and was notified that Fios was not available in my area. Is that MY fault??? I think not. I tried "Contact Us" and requested via email but to no avail; so, I couldn't even tell them what happened, and that's why I'm telling you. They should give away at least one consolation free Red Box DVD rental for all the nonsense I just went through on their site. I certainly would think twice about contacting Verizon for anything else if there was anything of theirs available in my area. Oh, that's right . . . their "Contact Us" doesn't work worth a darn unless you already have an account with them. Not too impressive, Verizon!!!

Oh, like I'm not mad enough right now! I hit "Submit" button below to submit this comment, and I get a message telling me it's an error and cannot be submitted due to technical difficulties. So, now I have a spinning blue error going and message states, "Please try after some time." Are you kidding?!?! If I leave this page you KNOW I iwll lose this comment, I won't come back, and you won't have to listen to me . . . just like contacting Verizon! You guys got a racquet going here!!!

Verizon "freebie deal" is no freebie, no deal, and no contacting Verizon, that's for sure. I clicked on the page above to go to Verizon and check for Fios service in my area, listen to sales pitch, and get six free Red Box DVD rentals. I went to that page and put in my address and zip code and was notified that Fios was not available in my area. Is that MY fault??? I think not. I tried "Contact Us" and requested via email but to no avail; so, I couldn't even tell them what happened, and that's why I'm telling you. They should give away at least one consolation free Red Box DVD rental for all the nonsense I just went through on their site. I certainly would think twice about contacting Verizon for anything else if there was anything of theirs available in my area. Oh, that's right . . . their "Contact Us" doesn't work worth a darn unless you already have an account with them. Not too impressive, Verizon!!!

Oh, like I'm not mad enough right now! I hit "Submit" button below to submit this comment, and I get a message telling me it's an error and cannot be submitted due to technical difficulties. So, now I have a spinning blue error going and message states,